Here I Am
by Arella Grayson
Summary: A story I created for every guy or girl who's ever been teased for how they look, in order to empower them. A subject quite close to my heart. (Main Char-Cyborg)


**Author's Note: **A bit of this storyline was created by the RPGs of NC staff for this thing they're doing... but they asked me to write it completely, and I told them that it was MY story if I wrote it. Thus, I'm posting it with the rest of my stories.

Most of you won't like this story, for there's a lack of romance in it. But the point of this story isn't romance.

Most of you won't like this story, because there's an original character as a main character. But there's a point to it.

If you like Kitten (... and I fear you if you do), you won't like this story. Get over it.

"OH MY GOD! YOU'RE NOT USING MY FAVORITE TITAN!" ... that's right. I'm only focusing on one.

And of course, "WHY AREN'T YOU UPDATING RING AROUND THE ROSIES?!"... this is more important right now.

Flames are accepted, and laughed at, because it shows just how much of a weak-minded person you are to make rude comments about a story with this much importance.

**This story is dedicated **to every guy or girl out there who ever got made fun of anywhere, or who felt badly about themselves. I'm one of those people. I'm slightly popular now, but only because I've taken this by the reigns and don't let the bitchy people get to me. Now, they respect me.

**Don't let them get to you. Stand up for yourself.**

Also, if any of you need someone to just talk to, feel free to e-mail me or IM me. I'm happy to talk to you about it. Everyone needs someone to be a friend to them in their time of need.

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I don't need to be anything other than a prison guard's son

I don't need to be anything other than a specialist's son

I don't have to be anyone other than a birth of two souls in one

Part of where I'm going is knowing where I'm coming from

I don't want to be anything other than what I've been trying to be lately

All I have to do is think of me and I have peace of mind

I'm tired of looking 'round rooms wondering what I gotta do

Or who I'm supposed to be

I don't want to be anything other than me

I'm surrounded by liars everywhere I turn

I'm surrounded by imposters everywhere I turn

I'm surrounded by a identity crisis everywhere I turn

Am I the only one to notice?

I can't be the only one who's learned

I don't want to be anything other than what I've been trying to be lately

All I have to do is think of me and I have peace of mind

I'm tired of looking 'round rooms wondering what I gotta do

Or who I'm supposed to be

I don't want to be anything other than me

Can I have everyone's attention please

if you're not like this and that

You're gonna have to leave

I came from the mountain, the crust of creation

My whole situation made from crater, stone

And now I'm telling everybody

I don't want to be anything other than what I've been trying to be lately

All I have to do is think of me and I have peace of mind

I'm tired of looking 'round rooms wondering what I gotta to do

Or who I'm supposed to be

I don't want to be anything other than me

----------------------

School is the last place anyone in the world wishes to go when they look like that in the first place. Being almost one-hundred pounds overweight takes the joy out of being in public. But, school on the day everyone gets weighed in at gym class?

Do they try to get kids like that to commit suicide? Sure seems like it...

Most the guys at school found this day to be most exciting of all, after all, what better way to impress the bubbling blonde popular cheerleader than to show that they were lean and fit, with a six pack of abs to match? But as her soft blue eyes glanced around the room, she caught a few others who probably felt the same way she did. They were either resembling a string bean, or like her, a potato, much different from the Barbie and Ken dolls struting around Jump City.

People who were too skinny, too fat, with glasses, with braces, with any 'abnormality' were mercilessly picked on in this school, such as the rest of the schools across the world. And she just knew... this would rekindle the burning remarks, the noses being turned up, the name calling...

"Kitten?" the familiar voice of the gym teacher called out for the little popular blonde of the class to strut her way forward. And strut she did. Wearing a denim miniskirt that showed as much leg as possible, and a tight pink tanktop, she caught the eye of every boy in the room. She proudly slipped off her three-inch-high heels, and stepped up onto the scale, striking a pose even then.

It made her roll her blue eyes and look away.

"95." the teacher announced, and with a flourish, Kitten stepped off the scale. Hips swaying, she made her way back to a group of giggling, whispering girls who had all been weighed in the double-digits. Oh how badly she wanted to wipe that little smirk off that blonde bimbo's fac---

"Rose? You're next."

The red-head's eyes shot in panic towards the teacher, followed by the annoying high-pitched giggles of the preppy squad in the corner. The boys didn't make a sound, but she could just feel their eyes on her, and caught a smirk off one out of the corner of her eye.

Yes, more for them to pick on her about.

"Step on the scale please."

With a deep breath, fighting back the want to turn and run, the tall, overweight girl stepped up onto the scale, closing her eyes and waiting for the pain of it all to be over. However, it was just beginning.

"225."

It was dead quiet for what seemed like an eternity, but she had hoped to soon as the piercing, squealing voice of Kitten echoed across the gym, enough for the classes getting weighed in at other parts to hear.

"225? You're over 100 pounds heavier than the normal girl! Bet YOU feel like a pig!"

As if that wasn't enough, in joined the peanut gallery in their short skirts and tight tops, a mess of giggles and smirks.

"Well duh, I bet she eats out the entire all-you-can-eat bar at any restaurant she finds."

"Plan to keep going, Roly Poly?"

"Yeah keep it up, and you'll weigh more than an elephant."

"She already LOOKS like an elephant!"

The burning in her chest only intensified with every smack in the face that the girls brought on with their comments, and slowly, the entire group behind her were starting to laugh at the snide remarks. She felt the tears beginning to come to her eyes, but she forced them back with all her might. She refused to let them see her cry.

"You know, doesn't she kinda resemble a tumor? Like what we saw in science?"

"More like a larva."

"Or a leech."

"Bet she resembles a leech when she eats."

Slowly stepping down off the scale, she took her place in the back of the crowd, jaw clentched, hands clentched into fists in her pockets, still forcing back the tears that threatened to fall. Did they have to be so cruel? Why wasn't the gym teacher stopping them? She couldn't take it... one single tear ran down her cheek.

"Aww! We hurt the leech's feelings!" was Kitten's shrill cry as she pointed, and soon they all burst into fits of laughter once more, everyone shooting a comment at her for being a crybaby, even the unpopular kids, finding it a good way to try and prove they were just as cool as everyone else.

That was it... she just couldn't do it. She didn't have to stand here and take this anymore.

The tears now freely flowing from her eyes, she turned, and rushed out of the gymnasium, the laughter and taunting of her schoolmates echoing behind her.

-------------

It was the same thing day in and day out. There was no avoiding it.

Rose would come home daily, throw her backpack heavy with homework down on the floor by the door, and immediately go to the refrigerator. Food was her only friend now. At least it didn't make fun of her.

From the time she got home, to the time she left for school, she would eat to ease her pain, which would only cause her more pain as the inches fell on.

Sure, she tried to lose the weight, but it was pretty pointless now... she would only gain it back after another round of teasing from the girls at school. She resorted now to sitting in the back corner of the school cafeteria at lunch, with no-one but the spider forming it's web under the table to keep her company.

She had no friends here, or anywhere for that matter, unless you counted the ones that she met online, but they were all hundreds or thousands of miles away from her... here, she was a nobody, and would never, ever be a somebody.

You had to be a size 2 to be a somebody. A size 18 was far from that.

Rose looked around the large, bustling room slowly. Each and every table except hers had at least seven people at it, all laughing and talking about their day, and their plans later. She longed for that feeling, to have a tight-knit group of friends to hang with... to feel comfortable in her skin.

Finishing off her macoroni and cheese, she stood, making her way across the cafeteria to dispose of her food. It was off to biology now, one of her most hated subjects, but after that was American Lit, which was something to look forward to. She soon wrapped herself so much in her thoughts that as she passed the 'popular' table, she barely passed a glance.

However, they were all watching her.

The tan-skinned blonde smirked as her current boyfriend slipped his foot out in front of Rose's path, easily tripping her up as she was caught up in her own thoughts. The red-haired girl tumbled over onto the hard tiled floor, her face impacting with the leftovers on her tray as she hit.

It didn't even take a moment's time for her to realise what happened, and she knew every eye in the room was now on her as the laughter began to spring up again. Yes, she was the laughing stock of the school. Things couldn't get any worse.

Slowly getting up, the crowd roared louder at her as her face was coated in a mixture of red and yellow foods. Once again, she tried to force the tears back as she attempted to clean the food from her face. It wasn't working very well.

Kitten's laughter was the loudest, and most annoying of all. The shrillness of it seemed to echo off all the walls, and cause the others to continue their own laughter.

Why her? Why did they insist on picking on her of all people? There were hundreds of kids in the school...

Picking the tray and dishes up off the floor, Rose took a deep breath and continued her walk, planning on making a getaway into the bathroom first chance she got, but she didn't take two steps before feeling a large amount of spagetti hit her in the back. Turning to see who had thrown it, she was immediately pelted with food from every source she could imagine. It seemed to her that every person in the school was throwing food at her.

"How do you like THAT pig?"

"Enough food for you yet?"

"Com'on fatty! Fight back!"

Rose stood perfectly still, allowing the food to pelt her entire body. Eyes closed, mouth tightly shut, she took the beating from her schoolmates, Kitten's giggling ringing in her ears.

She could feel the burning starting to take over her body, the burning hatred towards everyone, everything. How dare they do this to her? She never once did anything to them. All she did was live her miserable life.

The hatred burned fiercer when, as a slap to the face, Kitten picked up her drink and delicately threw the strawberry soda onto her, topping the entire mess off.

"Too chicken to fight back? That figures." Sticking her nose up in the air, the finely-dressed blonde waltzed off, her posse getting up and following her. A mess of designer clothes, expensive shoes, and styled hair made their way to the doors of the cafeteria. "Last I checked, leeches couldn't fight off attackers anyway. They're _weak_."

The line was corny...

She meant it more as teasing than hurtful...

But Kitten, and everyone else in that building had no idea how far they had pushed the limits...

Turning into the hallway, Kitten laughed shrilly, followed by the soft laughs of her 'friends'. Random conversation was quickly made as they began to walk to their own classes, and pulling her bright pink portfolio to her chest, the blonde set off to her Geography class, but something made her stop.

Turning back around to look towards the cafeteria, her eyes widened.

There wasn't an explosion, or any large boom accompanied with a bomb.

Just a wave of fire that Kitten was able to watch for a brief second before it engulfed her body, sweeping her life away.

------

Every news channel's van was outside the school, but were blocked from seeing much by the dozens of police cars, EMS vans, and fire trucks. There hadn't been much they could do once they got there, though, so all just stood and stared helplessly at what they saw.

It was as if the lot had been completely cleared of anything. There were no bricks, stones, pieces of metal... any signs that something had been there at all, other than the large circle of blackened ash that covered the entire area. They had never seen anything like this.

But what really made them stare, was the one thing standing smack in the middle of that blackened circle.

An overweight girl, completely untouched from any flame. Her eyes were tightly closed, her mouth tightened shut. She stood there, unmoving. At first, they weren't sure she was even breathing.

The skid of tires was the only thing that made anyone look away from the large, red-haired girl. With the car at a stop, the door opened, and a dark-skinned, half-robotic man stepped out of the drivers side, his eyes wide at what he was looking at. When he was called to come out onto the scene, he had no idea that it was going to be this.

Sure, he had been told there was a fire at the school... but nothing like this.

Taking in a deep breath, Cyborg made his way to the man he knew well to be the police chief, and spoke in his most confident, official tone.

"What's the deal here?"

"You want to know why I called you here?"

Cyborg was struck back by the sullen voice the man gave, and would've answered him straight out, but something stopped him. The tears that were in the man's eyes. He knew that the chief had teenage children... and it only made sense that they attended this school...

They were dead. Seven-hundred teenagers... dead.

But who would do such a thing? A terrorist? Slade come back to haunt them?

The man simply pointed to the girl in the middle of the burnt meadow of ash.

"She... is gifted, much like you and the Titans are, Cyborg. She won't open her eyes, much less come to us to talk." His voice softened that much more as he looked up into Cyborg's one hazel eye. "Speak with her? She may listen to you..."

Taking a breath, the cybornetic man looked to the heavyset girl for what seemed like an hour, although it was only a few seconds. Could a girl like that really cause this much destruction?

Of course she could... if she was 'gifted' as the police chief said.

He lifted the yellow police tape up, and ducked under it. Step by step he made his way to the stock-still girl, going over in his head what he could say to her.

"Watch me mess up and get burnt to a crisp." he grumbled under his breath as he came within feet of her. He stopped dead in his tracks as the girl slowly opened her eyes, and looked up at him with piercing blue eyes.

Blue eyes filled with saddness, loneliness, hurt...

... and for a brief moment, the image of Raven crossed his mind.

She looked so scared... and as her eyes filled up with tears, she spoke words that put a chill through his entire body.

"I killed them. I killed them all."


End file.
